What is Mental Retardation?

Book excerpt: What is Mental Retardation? is a rare peek into the divergent--and at times contentious--points of view among the world's leading researchers on what the condition of mental retardation is and how it should be defined, measured, and implemented in the 21st century. This candid and insightful collection of 21 essays features expert opinion on issues ranging from whether mental retardation really is a slowing of mental development and what the disability should be called, to how cultural norms affect the definition of the condition worldwide and lessons learned from the Atkins v. Virginia case. The definitions of mental retardation published from 1921-2002 by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities provide the backdrop for this powerful discussion.